WHAT ARE THEY SMOKING?

Ottawa's proposed legislation to decriminalize marijuana possession is
another example of the federal Liberals sucking and blowing at the same time.

Justice Minister Martin Cauchon's long-awaited bill unveiled yesterday
would make the possession of small amounts of marijuana -- enough for about
25 joints -- a ticketing rather than a criminal offence, subject to fines.

At the same time, Ottawa announced a five-year, $245-million fund to
educate Canadians about the dangers of smoking marijuana.

In other words, Ottawa is softening and toughening its message on marijuana
use at the same time. Typical Liberals, if you ask us.

This spring, Sun Media ran a week-long series on this issue that had the
whole country talking -- even the prime minister, who joked at a Liberal
fundraiser, "Don't start to smoke right away. We're not legalizing it,
we're decriminalizing it," thus sending out precisely the wrong "nudge,
nudge, wink, wink" message.

We do agree that being caught with a small amount of marijuana one time
should not saddle someone with a criminal record. But surely that could be
addressed through prosecutorial discretion.

While we applaud the stiffer penalties for major growing operations, this
bill fails to address other serious concerns. For example, a Sun-Leger
Marketing poll taken for our series showed the single most popular idea
among Canadians is to make marijuana available to people who need it for
medical reasons. The feds have totally bungled that file up to now and this
law won't help.

It also doesn't give police better tools for fighting the organized
criminals behind the big growing operations nor assist them in dealing with
stoned drivers.

Tellingly, the bill is opposed by the people who will have to enforce it.

Winnipeg Police Association president Loren Schinkel says it sends the
wrong message, telling young Canadians it's OK to smoke pot, and shows
Americans that Canadian lawmakers aren't serious about drug abuse.

The best we can say is it needs major work.

Otherwise, Jean Chretien and company will stand revealed, once again, as
blowing smoke on another issue involving the safety of Canadians. Which
would hardly be a surprise.